highest, a. (n.) and adv.
(ˈhaɪɪst)
Forms: α. 1 h{iacu}ehst, h{yacu}hst, héhst, hést, héahst, 1–2 h{iacu}hst, 2–3 hehst, 3 heist, heest, hest, hæhst, hæxt, heixt, 3–6 hext, 6 hekst (4 hexist). β. 1 h{iacu}ᵹest, héaᵹest, -ost, héahest, 2–4 heiȝest, 3 (Orm.) heȝhesst, hehest, 3–4 heȝest, -ist, 3–5 heiest, 4–5 heghest, heyest, 5 heghist, heiȝest, heiast, 5–6 Sc. heast, 6 heighest, Sc. heychast, heest. γ. 4–5 hiȝest, 4–6 hiest, hyest, (4–5 Sc. hyeast), 5 hieghst, 5–6 Sc. hieast, 6 hyghest, 6– highest. δ. 4–5 heier(e)st, heirest, 6 hierest.
[OE. h{iacu}ehst, h{yacu}hst, héhst, and héahst, héaᵹost, corresp. to OHG. hôhist, Goth. hauhist-, f. hauh-, OE. héah high. From OE. héhst, héahst, by hardening of h before s, came ME. hext (like next), which survived to 16th c., but at length yielded to the disyllabic forms conformed to the positive, represented by OE. héaᵹest, ME. heȝest, and mod. highest. The forms heirest, hierest, were formed on the comparative; cf. nearest, also highermost.]
A. adj.
1. The superlative of high a. in its various senses, q.v.
| α c 825 Vesp. Psalter ix. 3[2] Ic..singu noman ðinum ðu hehsta. c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. xvi. 103 Ðeh ðe hi selfe wilnien ðæs heahstan. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xxiii. 11 Se ðe heist is. Ibid. Mark v. 7 Sunu godes ðæs heista [Rushw. hesta]. a 1000 Guthlac 16 Se hyhsta ealra cyninga cyning. c 1000 in Narrat. Angl. Conscr. (1861) 37 Seo is ealra duna mæst and hiᵹest. a 1050 O.E. Chron. (Parker MS.) an. 1031 Whenne þæt flod byþ ealra hehst. a 1121 Ibid. (Laud MS.) an. 1101 Þis þa mid aðe ᵹefestnodan .xii. þa hihste of æᵹðre healfe. c 1205 Lay. 2325 Þa hehste of þan hirde. Ibid. 13240 Þe hæhste mon of Brutlond. Ibid. 24587 Hæxt cniht on londe. a 1225 Juliana 63 In to þe heste heouene. a 1225 Ancr. R. 140 Wel neih heixt þinc wiðouten God one. c 1230 Hali Meid. 41 Fram þe hehste heuene in to helle grunde. c 1290 Beket 1314 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 144 Þe hexte of þe londe. c 1305 St. Christopher 10 in E.E.P. (1862) 60 Þe hexiste þat an vrþe was. c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 32 When bale is hext þan bote is next. 1589 R. Robinson Gold. Mirr. (Chetham Soc.) 47 When raging flouds of surging seas be hext..The present fall, by Nature is the next. |
| β c 1000 Ags. Ps. (Th.) cxvii[i]. 21 [22] Se ᵹeworden is hwommona heaᵹost. c 1200 Vices & Virtues 35 Karitas is heiȝest and betst of ðese þrie. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 197 Mannes heued is heȝest lime. c 1200 Ormin 2146, I stall þær heȝhesst iss inn heoffne. a 1225 Juliana 69 Wið heheste steuene. a 1300 Cursor M. 1837 Þe heiest fell [v.rr. heyest, heȝest]. c 1350 Will. Palerne 2907 Vp to þe heiȝest tour. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 138 Þe heieste proprete. c 1440 Gesta Rom. xci. 419 (Add. MS.) She is heghiste of all Criatures. c 1470 Henry Wallace vi. 588 He had the heast stait. 1530 Lyndesay Test. Papyngo 164 On the heychast lytill tender twyste. 1553 Gau Richt Vay 39 The sone of the heest God. |
| γ 13.. Cursor M. 10592 Sco was won to þe heist [v.r. hiest] stride. c 1430 Hymns Virg. 92 This noon hete of þe someris day, Whanne þe sunne moost hiȝest is. 1559 Mirr. Mag., Salisbury xxxvi, Whan helth and welth is hyest. 1634 Peacham Gentl. Exerc. xxiii. 80 You must deepen your colours so that the Orpiment may be the highest. 1736 Butler Anal. ii. vi. 309 Doubtful, in the highest supposable degree. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xviii, Screaming at the highest pitch of her cracked and mistuned voice. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xviii. 128 The highest point of the mountain. 1871 Freeman Norm. Conq. IV. xvii. 70 The results of this change have been of the highest moment. |
| δ c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. II. 265 (Bodley MS. 788) Preching and oþer speche is þe heirest dede of man, whan þat it is wel done. Ibid. II. 365 But whan he is heirest, as smoke þan he shal vanishe awey. Ibid. III. 341 Heierste viker of Crist. Ibid. II. 231, 281, etc. 1569 Sir T. Hawkins in Sir R. Hawkins' Voy. (1878) 74 In the hierest place. |
2. With agent-nouns: see high a. 21 b.
| 1702 [see bidder 4]. 1706 Estcourt Fair Examp. i. 10 You may keep company with the highest Flyer of 'em all. 1717 tr. Frezier's Voy. 109 Sold to the highest Bidder. |
B. absol. or as n.
1. absol. the Highest (in some Bible versions, the Most Highest): the Supreme Being, God.
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter xlv[i]. 7 [6] Salde stefne his se hesta. c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. iv. iii. (1891) 268 Se hehsta seleð his stefne. 971 Blickl. Hom. 7 Þæs Hehstan mæᵹen þe ymbscineþ. a 1340 Hampole Psalter xvii. 15 Þe heghest gaf his voice. 1535 Coverdale Ps. lxxii[i]. 11 Is there knowlege in the most hyest? ― 2 Esdras vii. 62, I knowe Lorde, that the Hyest is mercyfull. a 1628 Sir J. Beaumont Epiphany in Farr S.P. Jas. I (1848) 143 Since vnder this low roofe the Highest lay. 18.. Whittier Ezekiel iv, In sudden whirlwind..The Spirit of the Highest came. |
† 2. The highest part, top, summit. (In quot. 1484, the deepest or innermost part, depth.) Obs.
| 1484 Caxton Fables of æsop iii. i, He retorned ageyn in to the hyest of the woode. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. lv. 76 He come to the hyest of the hyll. 1563 Shute Archit. D j b, Deuide the hanging line from the highest of the Abacus. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 59 At the highest of this Palace, is cut..the Images of a King. |
3. Highest position or pitch: usually with at.
| a 1225 St. Marher. 14 From þe heste in heouene to þe laheste in helle. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 73 b, Whan the sonne is in the hyest. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 59 After the Sunne hath beene at the highest. 1688 S. Penton Guardian's Instr. A vj b, At this time, when Writing, both as to Substance..and Ornament of Language, is at highest. |
4. That which is highest (in fig. sense).
| 1861 Tennyson Guinevere 654 We needs must love the highest when we see it. 1867 Froude Short Stud. (1876) I. 116 Such a man..is decent and respectable, but the highest is not in him, and the highest will not come out of him. |
b. in the highest, in Biblical use, transl. L. in excelsis, Gr. ἐν ὑψίστοις = in the loftiest places, in the heavens; but in mod. use sometimes taken to mean ‘in the highest degree’.
| 1526 Tindale Matt. xxi. 9 Hosianna in the hyest. 1582 N. T. (Rhem.) Luke ii. 14 Glorie in the highest to God [Wycl., in the hiȝist thingis; Tind., an hye; Cranm., on hye; Genev. in the hye heauens]. 1611 Bible ibid., Glory to God in the highest. 1897 Sat. Rev. 12 June 651/2 To praise in the highest ‘The Cloister and the Hearth’ is to echo Sir Walter Besant. |
C. adv.
1. The superlative of high adv. in its various senses, q.v.
| c 1000 Menologium 110 On þam gim astihð on heofenas up hyhst. a 1300 Cursor M. 439 He..sette him heist [v.r. heyest] in his hall. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Johannes 495 Þocht þe eyrne fle heyeste. c 1400 Rom. Rose 4363 She canne..whirle adown, and overturne Who sittith hieghst. 1530 Palsgr. Introd. 16 The frenche men judgyng a worde to be most parfaytly herde, whan his last end is sounded hyghest, use generally to gyve theyr accent upon the last syllable onely. 1570 Satir. Poems Reform. xxii. 46 Quha heichest clymmis the soner may thay slyde. 1657 R. Ligon Barbadoes (1673) 6 Trying which of them can leap highest. 1727 Swift Gulliver iii. iii, The king when he is highest provoked. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. x. II. 645 At the very moment at which their disputes ran highest. |
2. Comb., forming superlatives to combinations of high adv.
(Now usually expressed by most, as ‘most high-sounding’.)
| 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. ii. i. 8 And ouer-lookes the highest piering hills. |